What do you do when you realize you work in a job nobody has a clue about? Why, put on a game show, of course.

That’s what Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss decided to do when she spoke before the Rotary of Palo Alto two weeks ago. Instead of a dry speech, she put on a county-themed, Jeopardy-type game.

IA heard the game was quite a hit, but not because anybody knew anything about the county.

Take the question of which four cities in the county begin with the letter ‘M.’ Most Rotarians could come up with Mountain View, Milpitas and Morgan Hill. Left out by most: poor Monte Sereno.

Other questions included the average number of adults in the county jail each day (4,600) and which hospital was recently named one of the nation’s top 10 by U.S. News and World Report (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.) Given that Sherri Sager, Packard’s chief of government relations, is a Rotarian, that last one was a layup.

Then there was the question about the number of county supervisors who are women. You’d think this one would be a breeze, as only two of the five supes are female – and one of them was playing Jeopardy host for the day. (The other is Blanca Alvarado.)

Turns out, many Rotarians didn’t even know how many supervisors there are – period. Guesses from 6 to 13 were unabashedly shouted out.

Now, somebody name all 16 Supreme Court justices!

Nominee put on hold

Since President Bush nominated him in February to be assistant secretary of education, Bill Evers has waited . . . and waited . . . for Senate confirmation.

The holding pattern suits many of the conservative ex-educrat’s former constituents in Santa Clara County just fine. Evers had to step down from the county board of education and take a leave from Stanford’s Hoover Institution after being nominated, but he hasn’t yet been able to stick his hand into federal policy-making.

Now a Washington Post story depicting Evers as a rumpled, mild-mannered “policy wonk” who is puzzled over his nomination’s delay has those critics howling – and hitting the “forward” icon on their e-mail.

Evers is known in Palo Alto and Sacramento less as an academic and more as an assertive advocate. In the ’90s, he badgered the school board over testing and “fuzzy math.” He chaired a group called HOLD – for Honest, Open and Logical Debate on math reform.

“It was never honest or open or logical, and it was debate only if you believe shouting down people who disagreed with you is debate,” said Erwin Morton, a Palo Altan who is lobbying against Evers’ confirmation.

So is former California schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin, who dealt with Evers when he served on a state academic standards commission. Calling Evers rude, loud and unprofessional, she told the Post: “If he was a child in school, you would think he had attention-deficit disorder.”

Evers, on advice from his Senate handlers, refused to talk to IA.

His opponents deny the article’s speculation that they’re resentful liberals who can’t get over the advent of standards and high-stakes testing.

They just hope Evers’ plane will be denied landing for another year or so.

Looks like lawyers in love

Two of Silicon Valley’s top lawyers have just returned from a European honeymoon after quietly tying the knot.

James Towery of Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel, past president of both the California State Bar and the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu, who ran for district attorney last year, were married before U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel Aug. 28. They then flew to New York and Europe for a honeymoon that included stops in London and romantic Paris.

The couple kept the nuptials low-key because Towery’s son is serving in Iraq, Sinunu-Towery said. The couple are planning a family celebration when he returns in June, she said. And yes, she’s hyphenating.

“This is a merger,” Sinunu-Towery said. “So I’ve got new branding.”

Chamber lands a candidate

Silicon Valley’s chock full of venture capitalists, but this week, there’ll be one extra – and he’s running for president.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the first presidential contender to take up a standing offer from the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce to come meet and greet its members. The chamber, in partnership with the Chambers of Commerce Coalition of Santa Clara County,is hosting a members-only event for the well-coiffed Romney Monday at David’s restaurant in Santa Clara.

Chamber boss Pat Dando notes that Romney planned to be in town anyway for some high-stakes fund-raising. “This will be an opportunity for him to meet the people, if you will,” she said, “without the people bringing big checks.”

Internal Affairs is compiled by Mercury News staff. This week’s items were written by Deborah Lohse, Sharon Noguchi, John Woolfolk and Peter Delevett. Send tips to internalaffairs@mercurynews.com, or call (408) 271 3638.

Intuitive Surgical paid $30.4 million in cash on March 5 for a more than three-decade-old building about two blocks from its current headquarters, which are on Kifer Road in Sunnyvale, according to Santa Clara County property records.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in a letter sent Thursday to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone that the administration has failed to produce documents tied to Kushner and other officials despite requests from the committee since 2017.